Dalton, Tymber - Fire and Ice [A Triple Trouble Prequel] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) by Tymber Dalton Read Free Book Online

accepted.
    There would be no mercy given, since they gave none in return.
    They would battle to the death.
    Zaria took her men by the hands. “Join hands,” she softly said.
    “What are you doing?” Svarog asked.
    She closed her eyes. “What I feel is right. Join hands,” she repeated.
    The men complied. Zaria felt it when the brothers joined hands, like a circle completed. As the earliest traces of dawn kissed the skies to the east of the hills behind the marauders, Zaria pictured the tablet they’d created the day before, as if it hung in the air before her face.
    “Goddess above, Goddess below. Goddess within, Goddess without. Cast clouds of doubt across the skies behind our foes, and cast into their minds the feeling of woe. Remove from them their spirit strong. Replace their will with our victory song.”
    She raised her arms to the skies above, still holding their hands and feeling power building amongst them, circling, flowing, growing.
    “Goddess of All, Goddess of Light. Take from them their power and feed well our might!”
    She felt a fireball of brilliant, golden energy explode up from the center of their triad.
    Around them, she heard everyone gasp, but no one fled. As she opened her eyes, she watched as the fireball arced over the countryside, falling back to earth beyond their view, behind the tree line. A glare brighter than the sun blossomed across the distant land, growing and coalescing. Before their eyes, the skies behind the hills clouded over, concealing the sun and preventing them from being blinded by the glare of sunrise over the trees.
    An earth-shaking explosion made the ground tremble as a thunderous crack ricocheted back to them. A blue energy wave struck them, knocking them all to the ground.
    As Zaria regained her footing, she felt stronger than she ever had in her life. In amazement, every warrior stood, stretching and smiling as their fear quickly turned to wonder and determination.
    Stribog looked at her, then grabbed her and kissed her long and deeply. “It worked! I feel it! They all do!”
    Svarog next grabbed and kissed her. “We shall vanquish,” he said. Then, with a loud, echoing cry, he lifted his sword and rallied their forces.
    The warriors lifted their weapons in a responding cry and began their charge to the east.
    Zaria held back for only a moment as she watched their forces advance. Zachary made his way to her side. “This is how it ends?”
    She sadly smiled and kissed him deeply, in a way she’d always wanted to and knew she’d never have a chance to again. “Forever,” she whispered.
    He smiled and nodded. “Forever.” Then he drew his sword. “Shall we, my sweet Goddess?”
    She drew hers and grinned. “With pleasure.”
    Together, shoulder to shoulder, they turned and followed their fellow warriors.

    * * * *

    It didn’t take long for the first of their enemies to fall. Most humorous, as well as a huge ego boost to their forces, was the fact that when one of the lead cockatrice tried to transform, he was unable to shift into his more powerful guise.
    Startled, several of his comrades fell back as the dragon forces fell upon the hapless cockatrice and quickly killed him. When other cockatrice tried to shift, they, too, were unable. As they turned to flee, they were slain.
    “We have them outmatched!” Stribog yelled, rallying their forces as they waded into hand-to-hand combat.
    Zaria stayed on the outskirts of the battle, slaying stragglers that tried to escape through holes in their defenses. As the morning wore on, it was obvious that while the cockatrice were fierce fighters, without their ability to shift they were no match for the dragons and other shifters.
    The still-obscured sun lay high in the sky when two groups of dragon warriors shifted and took to the air, using their powers to divide sections of the cockatrice combatants and turn them toward awaiting allied troops to either side. Fires broke out as the fire dragons used their natural